it makes sense to me why they hate our beloved product. Every traditional reverse mortgage that is done takes a home off the market, removing a potential sale and a potential purchase. The purpose of the traditional reverse mortgage is to keep older Americans in their homes—to let them age in place. If you’re looking at the real estate sales market, that’s not a great outcome. But I feel that I’ve wrongly accused the real estate agents of gatekeeping against the reverse mortgage. The real estate agent doesn’t originate the loan. It’s the purchase loan officer who originates the loan. The purchase loan officers are the true gatekeepers—ones from large originators, such as Fairway, CrossCountry and Guild Mortgage—to name a few. Training or Retraining The key is in training, or sometimes retraining, the forward purchase loan originator to originate the purchase reverse mortgage. Every forward purchase loan originator should offer a reverse option to every older American client. For too long, reverse mortgage originators and lenders have only pushed the traditional reverse mortgage. Many of us have specialized in only doing the traditional reverse mortgage, sometimes having given up on the HECM for Purchase. It’s not a failure of the HECM for Purchase; it’s simply the wrong salesperson selling through the wrong channel. For the reverse originator, I urge retraining, a refocus on traditional purchase mortgages. Consider embracing the purchase channel and purchase lender. Be an expert in retirement financing for older Americans: forward purchase, reverse purchase, forward cash-out, traditional reverse, home equity lines of credit and the like. For the forward originator, embrace the HECM for Purchase. Offer an interesting option to your older clients who would have no monthly principal and interest payments. Refinance your aunt or your former purchase customer into a traditional reverse mortgage. Offer the HECM for Purchase to your next older client. In short, we need less recruiting and more retraining. Retrain forward to do reverse and reverse to do forward. Recruit from within and expand your business and our distribution overall. Learn reverse and learn forward. You’ll expand your business and be much more interesting to your agents and lead sources. And as a bonus, you’ll be much more interesting at dinner parties. Jim Cory, CRMP, is managing director of reverse for Guild Mortgage. He is also vice chair of NRMLA. Board Room CALL US AT (888) 369-1573 OR EMAIL US AT WHOLESALE@HIGHTECHLENDING.COM TO LEARN MORE! REVERSE MORTGAGE / JULY-AUGUST 2024 7
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